The expression “textile items” refers preferably to tubular textile items closed at one end, such as stockings or socks, though without limiting the general idea protected by the invention.
As is known, tubular textile items are loaded onto ironing blocks manually by an operator. The textile items should be placed on the block according to a pre-established orientation so that ironing is uniform and ensures a good appearance both when packaging the item and when the latter is put on. In particular, the item should be oriented with respect to a reference, which—in the case of stockings and socks for instance—is preferably represented by the toe-closing seam or, if necessary, by a notch made on a portion of said item. As a consequence, after slipping the textile item onto the block, the operator orients the latter if its initial orientation differs from the pre-established optimal orientation.
In the process for manufacturing stockings and the like, ironing machines are usually placed after knitted-seaming machines, which seam the stocking toe.
In order to increase the effectiveness of the whole process for manufacturing textile items and to eliminate the dependence on human intervention, automatic loading systems for ironing machines have been introduced. As is known, such systems consist of a pick-and-place station and of a loader. In particular, in the pick-and-place station the textile item is picked up and conveyed, for instance by means of air jets, into a pipe frame inside which a first orientation can take place. The stocking is then picked up by a loader which slips it onto a block on which a particular positioning is carried out, so as to reach the pre-established optimal orientation of the item according to the reference.
Known devices are provided with handling means associated with the block, which rotate the textile item on the block until a sensor detects the optimal position of the reference.
However, these devices tend to be slow and, more to the point, they do not enable the orientation of a second reference, if present, on the textile item, which can be for instance a pattern or a second notch.
Under these circumstances the technical task underlying the present invention is to propose an automatic device for orienting textile items on blocks and a corresponding method, which are an alternative to existing devices and methods and do not show the drawbacks affecting the latter.
A further aim of the present invention is to propose an automatic device and a method for orienting textile items on blocks, which enable a rapid and simple orientation of a textile item that has then to undergo further operations, preferably finishing operations. Another aim of the invention is to provide an automatic device and a method for orienting textile items on blocks, which enable the orientation of a textile item with respect to more than one reference, for instance in case of a stocking with respect to the toe seam and to a pattern on the lateral portion to be associated with the leg of said stocking.
An additional aim of the invention is to show an automatic device and a method for orienting textile items on blocks, which can be integrated effectively into the whole process for manufacturing textile items, referring in particular to the ironing step, so as to reduce times and costs.
A final aim of the invention is to propose an automatic device and a method for orienting textile items on blocks, which can be easily carried out and whose costs are low.
These and other aims that will emerge from the following description are achieved according to the present invention by an automatic device and a method for orienting textile items on blocks in accordance with the appended claims.